Tuesday Apple Rumors: Mobile Payments Coming to iPhone 5?

by Anthony John Agnello | January 31, 2012 12:14 pm

[1]Here are your Apple Rumors[2] and AAPL[3] news items for today.

iPhone 5 Does Mobile Payments with Mastercard’s PayPass: Wall Street rumblings and Silicon Valley rumors have suggested that Apple would deliver an iPhone with near-field communication[4] technology inside it for years. That would allow the company to get in on the growing mobile payments market. Based on hints detailed by 9 to 5 Mac and Fast Company, it looks like the iPhone 5 may be the model that finally delivers on those rumors[5].

First, an unnamed app developer at the Macworld expo showed off a new product that includes NFC reading capabilities for mobile payments — meaning a user could wave an NFC-capable credit card in front of an iPhone to buy items in the app. The developer said that while Apple hasn’t officially confirmed the technology’s inclusion, engineers working on the iOS platform are so “heavy into NFC” that it was worth including the technology in the app.

Then came statements made by MasterCard‘s (NYSE:MA[6]) head of emerging payments, Ed McLaughlin, to Fast Company. He said he “doesn’t know of a single handset manufacturer that isn’t in the process of making sure their stuff is PayPass[7] ready.” When asked specifically is that means Apple, McLaughlin responded, “[When] we have discussions with our partners, and they ask us not to disclose them, we don’t.” Not exactly confirmation, but the strongest evidence yet that Apple is getting into the NFC mobile payments game.

China Telecom Gets iPhone 4S in February: The iPhone may finally be coming to a second Chinese carrier this February. A Tuesday report in China Daily said China Telecom (NYSE:CHA[8]) will sell the iPhone 4S[9] as soon as next month. The news came specifically from the company’s subsidiary Beijing Telecom. China Unicom (NYSE:CHU[10]) has been China’s exclusive official iPhone provider since Apple launched its first model in the country in 2009.

German Court Re-Bans Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1: The back-and-forth battle between Apple and Samsung (PINK:SSNLF[11]) continued on Tuesday when a German court banned Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1[12] from sale in the country. An Apple Insider report on the ruling said the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court upheld an earlier decision forbidding the sale of Samsung’s previous Galaxy Tab models, namely the 10.1 and 8.9, because of Germany’s unfair competition law. The ban won’t apply to the most recent model, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, which Samsung released due to previous rulings found in Apple’s favor.

As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello[13] and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook[14]. For more from the company, check out our previousApple Rumors[15]stories.